


Dead Giveaway

by pterawaters



Series: McDanno Husbands AU [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Humor, M/M, Season/Series 01, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 06:31:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3800404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Catherine takes her shore leave in Hawaii, only to find she's not as welcome as expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dead Giveaway

"Hey, leave notices are up," Jenny says to Catherine, standing at the open door of Catherine's bunk. "I saw your name on there."

Smiling, Catherine replies, "Yeah. I've been meaning to take some leave lately."

"Where're you headed? Back to Norfolk?"

Catherine shakes her head. "Honolulu."

Jenny's eyes go wide. "Hawaii? Jesus, you'll spend half your leave just in the air." Then, Jenny smiles brightly. "This about that SEAL you were seeing? McGarrett?"

"Maybe," Catherine says with her own sly smile. "I mean, he called me up last week wanting a favor, so I thought I'd go collect on the debt."

Laughing, Jenny points at Catherine. "You'll have to let me know how that goes!"

~*~

Catherine has always been able to sleep in whatever position necessary, which means by the time she gets off her flight from Tokyo to Honolulu, she feels relatively refreshed. It's noon, Hawaii time, though it feels like morning, and Catherine's stomach rumbles.

She's just about to pick up her bag from the baggage claim, when she sees Steve leaning against a pillar. Grinning, Catherine rushes toward him. "Steve!"

"Hey, Cath!" Steve says, standing up and walking toward her. 

When Catherine meets Steve in the middle, she tries to kiss him, but he dodges the kiss and gives her a very platonic hug instead. Weird. "It's good to see you!"

In her peripheral vision, Catherine sees an unfamiliar man approach them. He's about Catherine's height, with slicked-back hair and an uneasy expression. She wonders if maybe he's a lost tourist or something, until she sees the badge on his belt. 

"It's good to see you, too!" Steve replies. When the man next to them clears his throat, Steve says, "Oh! This is my partner, Detective Danny Williams. Danny, this is Lieutenant Catherine Rollins."

Ah! Now that Steve's in law enforcement, he has a partner. That's so cute, but of course Catherine doesn't say that out loud. Instead, as Catherine shakes Danny's hand, she asks, "Are you guys in the middle of a case?"

Danny and Steve look at each other for a second before Steve says, "Yeah! Yeah, we're in the middle of a case. I mean, we've got time for that lunch I owe you."

" _And_ dinner later on," Catherine reminds Steve, stepping closer to where the bags are coming down onto the carousel. "Don't forget!"

"Yeah, _Steve_ ," Danny says, with an edge to his voice that Catherine wonders if is always there. "Don't forget about dinner, too!"

Steve murmurs something that Catherine can't hear, but it makes Danny roll his eyes and wave flippantly as he walks away. Steve turns to Catherine and says, "I'm sorry about him. He gets very sensitive sometimes."

In a low voice, Catherine asks, "Is he coming to lunch with us?"

Steve raises his eyebrows and says very carefully, "Yes?" 

Catherine is not impressed.

It must show on her face because Steve explains, "Danny drove. What do you want me to do? Ask him to wait in the car? Bring him a doggy bag? C'mon. You'll like him."

Well, Catherine supposes she can understand that. She nods and says, "Okay. Your best lunch spot, your treat." Her bag comes around on the carousel, so she grabs it. "Let's go!"

In the parking area next to arrivals, Danny's leaning against a silver Camaro. Catherine whistles. "Nice wheels!"

The smile Danny gives her looks a lot more genuine. "I know, right?" He reaches out and says, "C'mon. Gimme your bag. I'll put it in the back."

"Don't put it on the thing back there," Steve says with a wince. Catherine notices Steve has the car keys when he uses the remote to pop open the trunk.

"I wasn't gonna put it on the thing, Steven!" Danny calls back with a huff. "I know how to pack my own damn trunk."

Steve opens his mouth like he's going to say something, but Danny looks around the hatch and glares before Steve can say whatever was on his mind. "Okay," Steve says instead. 

Catherine thinks they bicker like her grandparents used to. 

~*~

After lunch, Danny drops Steve and Catherine at Steve's house and then goes to pick up his daughter. He showed Catherine a picture of Grace, and Catherine's heart practically melted at Grace's cuteness.

As Steve closes the front door behind them, he says, "Look, Catherine. I'm sorry. I should've told you not to come all this way."

"That does not sound good," she replies, leaning her suitcase against the couch in Steve's living room. 

Steve smiles sadly and shakes his head. "I'm seeing someone."

"You're seeing someone," Catherine repeats. In the four years she's known him, Steve has never been "seeing someone". Of course, he's also been a SEAL for all four of those years, until recently. Catherine gives a skeptical laugh. "And you still ask me for favors?"

Steve winces. "Sorry? I'll make it up to you."

Nodding, Catherine adds, "Just not the fun way."

"Just not the fun way," Steve agrees. He looks around and says, "Well, Mary's in the guest room, so I can take the couch, or I can put you up in a hotel if you want."

"Mary?" Catherine asks, raising an eyebrow and wondering if that's the new girlfriend's name.

Steve shakes his head. "My sister."

Nodding and biting her upper lip, Catherine thinks she should have known Steve was the kind of guy to keep a lot of women around him, girlfriends or sisters or whatever Catherine is to him now. Catherine deserves better. "Oh, you're putting me up in a hotel, buddy. A nice one. The Hilton."

Steve's eyes go wide. He looks like he's about to argue, but then his shoulders slump. "Yeah, okay. I'll give them a call. Book a room."

"Hey, can I freshen up someplace?" Catherine asks, all the time on the plane starting to catch up to her.

"Yeah, sure," Steve says, his phone in hand. "Downstairs bathroom's under construction, but there's one through the bedroom at the top of the stairs."

Catherine goes up the rickety-looking, but not -feeling stairs and through the bedroom, which is obviously Steve's. The bed is made, and all the dirty clothes are in the hamper, but Steve's dress blues are hanging in the open closet, and his Naval Academy baseball cap is on the dresser. 

In the bathroom, Catherine uses the toilet and washes her face before she gets curious and decides to poke around a little bit. There are two toothbrushes in the cup next to the sink, but they're both different shades of blue, so they might both be Steve's. In the shower, there are two different bottles of shampoo, a bottle of body wash, and a bar of soap. None of them are floral or fruit scented. Huh. Steve must be enjoying the variety afforded by civilian life. 

In the medicine cabinet, there's two of almost everything. Two kinds of deodorant, two razors, two bottles of aftershave, two different kinds of toothpaste. Catherine is starting to see a pattern here. There's a prescription bottle in the lower left-hand side of the cabinet, and Catherine picks it up. The medication is one she knows is used to treat allergies, but Steve's name isn't on the bottle. Instead, it says, "Williams, Daniel."

Why would Danny keep his allergy medication at Steve's house?

Unless…

_Oh_. 

Catherine takes the pill bottle downstairs with her, finding Steve in the kitchen. He's halfway through a big glass of water when Catherine holds up the bottle where Steve can see it. 

Steve spits out a waterfall onto his shirt and the floor between them, coughing like he doesn't know how to hold his breath underwater for over two minutes without drowning. 

"So," Catherine says, setting the bottle on the island counter in the middle of the kitchen. "Danny, huh?"

Eyes wide at having been caught, Steve coughs a few more times and says, "Uhh…"

It's not a denial. In fact, Catherine's reading the waterworks and the lack of a denial as a full-fledged confirmation. She nods and says, "He's cute."

"Uh, yeah," Steve replies, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Look, Catherine…"

She waves him off. "Steve, it's fine. I mean, it's a little bit of a blow to my ego, but I'll survive."

Steve furrows his brow and asks, "How is me seeing Danny a blow to your ego?"

Catherine pities Steve, she really does. He's just so clueless about how human relationships work sometimes. "I mean, I know we never said we were exclusive or anything, but I thought we had something good. I definitely thought I'd be good enough to keep you on this side of the fence."

"What?" Steve asks, throwing his hands to the side. "Catherine, what fence?"

"Like, the straight-or-gay fence," she explains, but Steve's face does that thing that makes her think he's contemplating murder. "Or not."

" _Not_ ," Steve insists. Suddenly Catherine feels sheepish. "I'm bisexual, Catherine. I've always dated guys or girls."

Now Catherine feels really dumb. "Oh. You never said..."

"I couldn't."

"Right." Sheesh. This is _not_ how Catherine imagined her week going. "Sorry."

Steve sighs and says, "Thanks."

Catherine tries to make the best of the situation. "Well, since sex is off the table, you wanna get some beers and talk about boys?"

Steve laughs, that handsome grin spreading across his face. Nodding, he says, "Yeah. That sounds great, Catherine."

"What are friends for?" Catherine gives Steve a smile and wonders if he has any single friends he could set her up with. After all, she'd like to get her needs met somewhere. 


End file.
